Wingate Faces

Barry Howard

7/2/2013

Barry Howard graduated from Wingate University in 1989 with a degree in music education. After graduating he returned to his old stomping grounds of Forest Hills High School, where he taught music from 1989-99. Howard moved to Winston-Salem, where he spent the next nine years teaching at Mount Tabor High School. While balancing home life with a new baby, Howard was drawn to a new profession.

“One of my best friends Stephen Goodwin had been persuading me for years to get into law,” he said. “I felt like it was the right time to look into it.” So, after teaching for 19 years, he went back to being a student and attended Charlotte School of Law. He received the degree of Juris Doctor in May 2011, then was admitted to the North Carolina State Bar three months later.

Last fall, Howard and law partner Stephen Goodwin opened their own law firm, Goodwin & Howard in Matthews, N.C. The firm focuses on business law, estate planning and administration, personal injury, property damage, local government, property law, and state and federal court representations.

Howard is currently a member of the N.C. Bar Association, the North Carolina State Bar and the Union County Bar Association. He is licensed to practice in all state courts in North Carolina and resides in Indian Trail.

The career change from teaching to law has been a positive change. “Everything is going well with our law firm,” he said. “God opens doors.”